ESPN glorifies the worst Yankees fan who grabbed Mookie Betts with a feature story

New York Yankees fans get a bad rep. As someone who lived in New Jersey and New York for most of my life, I can tell you the majority of fans who don Pinstripes in the Bronx from spring til fall are nice people. Yet, there are always a few bad apples, and the Yankees have the largest fanbase in MLB – you can do the math from there.

In Game 4 of the World Series, a Yankees fan was ejected during the first inning for interfering with a ball as it neared the right field fence short of the foul pole. Mookie Betts reached for the ball and would've recorded an out, were it not for Yankees fan Austin Capobianco.

Capobianco grabbed Betts hand and wrist, thus forcing the ball out of his glove. It should be noted here that Gleyber Torres, the batter at the time, was called out. Capobianco quickly made his way to the exit as Betts reacted angrily.

It goes without saying, but I don't want to encourage this sort of behavior. More media coverage for this man is not a good thing, but given the World Series stage it's something we're forced to comment on. For my part, I'd start by removing Capobianco's season tickets, and he ought to apologize to Betts and the Dodgers before said punishment gets worse. Yankees fans should not celebrate this moment or put Capobianco on a pedestal.

Mookie Betts didn't take the bait from overeager Yankees fans

Betts, thankfully, took the bizarre nature of the play in stride, and was more concerned about the game's end result than a moment in the first inning.

"When it comes to the person in play, it doesn't matter," Betts said. "We lost. It's irrelevant. I'm fine. He's fine. Everything's cool. We lost the game and that's what I'm kind of focused on. We got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow."

ESPN, however, opted to track this fan down and write about him. Jesse Rogers tracked down Capobianco at a bar in the Bronx, took his photo and treated him like a local celebrity.

ESPN puts Yankees fan who interfered with Mookie Betts on a pedestal

I do not blame Rogers, as he was on assignment, but I do have an issue with the worldwide leader. ESPN gave Capobianco a platform he didn't need – he already distracted us during a national TV broadcast of the World Series – to discuss his devious plan.

"We always joke about the ball in our area," Capobianco said. "We're not going to go out of our way to attack. If it's in our area, we're going to 'D' up. Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We're willing to do this."

Is this guy serious? And more importantly, why do we need his side of the story?

ESPN did its due diligence by asking Betts, the Dodgers and the Yankees how they felt about a fan reaching into the field of play. Any further reporting, or in this case glorifying, only encourages more fans to do the same.